The past few days, about 800 individuals from the industry gathered in San Francisco for the NAED Executive Leadership Conference (formerly the NAED Annual). NAED claims that attendance was very strong based upon the number of companies that attended (with […]
Much has occurred over the past couple of months and many manufacturers and distributors have cut to the bone in an effort to preserve profitability. These cuts have focused on people, programs (in the case of manufacturers) and products (in […]
This past week we attended the EquityEDN meeting in Atlanta and thought we share some observations. Almost 350 member attendees, representing 197 companies, attended the meeting. While we didn’t count the number of manufacturers, all on the EquityEDN list attended […]
Last week’s NAED SouthCentral Regional Conference in Palm Springs was, according to a number of people a “subdued, lightly attended conference.” A number of people commented that there were not many distributor personnel attending and that while there were more […]
We attended the NAED Western in Phoenix last week, where unfortuantely the weather barely reached 60 either day and evenings were in the mid to upper 30’s. Approximately 75 distributor companies (66 had booths) and 125 manufacturer companies attended.The economic […]
Congratulations to U.S. Army Brigadier General Robert Gaylord, the new president of IDEA. An interesting choice… retired military In reviewing his background, one would presume that he is a leader, a good listener and a good communicator having been heavily […]
As promised, some feedback from the last day at the NAED Eastern, and observations about the conference. The final day consisted of the one-on-one meetings and the mad dash to the airport for many. Luckily customs was easy (no line!! […]
And Bernie Westapher, Panduit, and Phil Barrios, Hubbell, are two classy individuals (no they didn’t pay me to say that, I’ll explain at the end).First, a few things about the conference, then some session observations: This was the largest meeting […]
Received a couple of interesting emails/press releases over the weekend, on the same topic, but with different messages. Both announced that Mike Rioux, president of IDEA, was leaving the company to “pursue other career opportunities”. The IDEA issued press release […]
As manufacturers and distributors seek to increase their market share, improve net margins, and their productivity, IDEA faces an interesting conundrum … “Is IDEA’s revenue growth important to its success or is the cost-savings that it generates for the industry […]
David Gordon
Channel Marketing Group
919-488-8635
